John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Wal-Mart Stores, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you. And now for today’s commentary—

With our nation’s debt piling up an additional trillion dollars every year as far as the eye can see, with all the worry about debt in Europe, maybe – just maybe—our own politicians could get serious and do something. But right now, it is just talk.

President Obama put on the table his budget for fiscal 2012. His plan almost makes you laugh if it weren’t serious business. Paul Ryan, House Budget Committee Chairman, charged the President “with an abdication of leadership in the face of this crushing burden of debt that is coming our way.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “The Obama budget doesn’t cut a penny from the deficit in the last seven months of this fiscal year and over the next three years through 2013 his spending reductions add up to a paltry 20 billion net.”

We all know that taking money from individuals, from states and companies, will be met with charges of starving the poor, refusing to educate our children, driving farmers out of business. How cruel! If we deny them that money, they will be like a pen of squealing pigs. But we have to do it. Listen to them squeal.

Secretary Vilsack admitted painful choices must be made. However, President Obama has not agreed to make them yet. He even admitted his 2012 budget is “just a down payment.”

I say it is just a political document. He doesn’t want to take the lead and shoulder the political risk. Let me predict that the Republican House backed by the Tea Party will take the lead with serious spending cuts in their budget proposal. As is often times the case, the President’s budget is “dead on arrival.” The Congress writes the budget anyway. At least, they are supposed to. Last year, the Democrats never even wrote one.

The American people are going to insist that something be done. The American people are already fixing their own financial excesses. Mortgage debt down 7%. Credit card debt down 14%. Auto loan debt down 12%. The American people “get it.”

There should be no sacred cows. Everything on the table – including entitlements and defense. Now is the time for the Congress and the President to ignore the squealing pigs and move ahead with President Obama’s bipartisan Debt Reduction Commission recommendations to put our fiscal house in order.

In closing, I would encourage you to access my website which archives my radio commentaries dating back 10 years and will go back 20 years when complete. Check on what I said back then. Go to www.johnblockreports.com .

Until next week, I am John Block in Washington.